SPIES... Good or Bad for game balance

[War4ever]

ravagon, i like your ideas..always have.....but howies only need MP reduced to 1 and then you can effectively attack them before they have a chance...aside from the instant fort...but you should have a big enough strike force to counter that

[rah]

I don't mind howies moving 2, since it make you reassess your rail network later in the game

RAH

[markusf]

Originally posted by War4ever
ravagon, i like your ideas..always have.....but howies only need MP reduced to 1 and then you can effectively attack them before they have a chance...aside from the instant fort...but you should have a big enough strike force to counter that

there is no counter to howies, they are just to strong, they dumbed down missles in the patch but not howies?

[War4ever]

nah spies are stronger...and come much earlier.

[Frank Johnson]

The problem with the spy is they have so many features.....some of which me might like to ban or see changed, while others are perfectly legitimate.

Most gamers have already desided what they "don't" want to see in their games, things like city bribe are banned in most games of substance.

But when looking at this we must consider that the modern era "game balance" tilts toward attack, not defense. Spies lend themselves to that trend. If you are going to edit spies, why not artillery, howies, and everything else in the modern era. Do you want a 50/50 style modern era, or a heavily defensive era like right into gunpower where only 1 move cannons have a shot at taking a city?

Eliminating spies wont change the fact that holding your ground defensively becomes much harder in the modern era......

[War4ever]

Originally posted by Frank Johnson


Eliminating spies wont change the fact that holding your ground defensively becomes much harder in the modern era......

i don't disagree with the fact that holding cities in the modern era is alot harder.....

But drop and roll howies which ignore city walls can be toned down by just allowing the drop and not the roll every turn.....

Spies, eliminate the nuke and poison water and i could live with that toning down aspect.....or even better just keep them as dips.....one tech, one improvement etc....

[rah]

Yeah, I'm leaning to keeping them dips if you can make sure they still abide by the one city one tech rule.

[War4ever]

well why don't we just let people know that espionage is a tech that no one is allowed to research...then effectively we have dips....

[Ming]

Originally posted by War4ever
well why don't we just let people know that espionage is a tech that no one is allowed to research...then effectively we have dips....

DOH... It sounds easy enough. NO modification of rules files needed. The only problem I can see is if at some point on the Tech Tree, Espy is the ONLY choice you are given.

I'd say add it to Rah Rules...

[drake]

Or jeez how about this, research the tech all you want, just disallow the use of a unit for certain purposes, just as city bribe is typically disallowed.

[War4ever]

that has already been mentioned Drake.... it is a dead end tech after all

[drake]

Ah yes, I forgot that most people have the tech tree memorized around here

I know how to get to monarchy, republic and philosophy...after that I usually wing it. Knowing the course I will take every game just doesn't appeal to me.

[War4ever]

lol i don't know the whole tech tree.....but i have played enough to remember that espionage is a dead ender....just like theology